ISTE Members Petition FCC to Support President Obama’s ConnectEd Initiative and Reinvest in E-Rate

Educators Sign Petition in Support of Increased Classroom Broadband Access

WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 11, 2013 – TheInternational Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) delivered a petition to the three current Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging them to take action to “accomplish the goals of the ConnectEd initiative to ensure that all of our nation’s classrooms have high speed broadband connectivity and all educators have the professional learning and access to digital resources they need for students to compete in the global 21st century economy.”

Initiated by ISTE, the premier membership association for educators committed to empowering connected learning in a connected world, and signed by more than 1,700 educators from across the United States, the petition applauds President Obama for his ConnectEd initiative, which aims to connect 99 percent of U.S. students to the internet through high-speed broadband and high-speed wireless within five years. The petition specifically urges FCC Acting Chairwoman Clyburn, Commissioner Rosenworcel and Commissioner Pai to consider increased investment in the successful E-Rate program to accomplish ConnectEd’s goals.

“Since its inception more than 15 years ago, the FCC’s E-Rate program has helped to connect more than 95 percent of our nation’s classrooms to the internet,” said ISTE CEO Brian Lewis. “Today, demand for E-Rate funding is more than double the amount of available funds and ISTE believes this nation must double down on its investment in E-Rate. Reinvesting in and updating the E-Rate program will ensure that students across the country have access to the high-speed connectivity necessary to make effective use of high-quality classroom learning technologies. We urge the Commissioners to consider increased investment in E-Rate to ensure another 15 years of success.”